Men’s race for group’s top 2 spots heats up

In Pool A four teams have a shot at the group’s top two playoff spots with Fagasa Youth leading by only three points with 12 over three others tied with nine points apiece.Pago Youth A leads that group of three teams, followed by Vaitogi United and Kiwi Soccers (by way of goals differential).In Pool B, Vailoatai Youth also has 12 points, leading their closest competitors — Utulei Youth and Lion Heart A with seven points each — by five.The surprise team in this competition is Pago Youth B coming in at fourth place with five points.Matches scheduled for Oct. 15 were pushed up to Monday, Oct. 10, 2011 to utilize the Columbus Day holiday due to the unavailability of Pago Park Soccer Stadium.POOL AOn Saturday, Oct. 8, Fagasa Youth held off Fagatogo Blue 2-1 while in other matches it was Kiwi Soccers 9, Atu’u Broncos B 0; PanSa 3, Ilaoa & To’omata 1; Vaitogi United 8, Vaiala Tongan 0.Pago A was off.On Oct. 10 Pago A edged Fagatogo Blue 2-1 while in other games it was Kiwi Soccers 2, Lion Heart B 0; Vaitogi United 6, Ilaoa & To’omata 1; Fagasa Youth 10, Atu’u Broncos B 0.Vaiala Tongan was on its bye round.Fagasa leads the group with 12 points, followed by Pago A (9), Vaitogi United (9), Kiwi Soccers (9), Fagatogo Blue (3), Vaiala Tongan (3), Ilaoa 7 To’omata (1), Lion Heart B (1) and Atu’u Broncos B (0).Games will resume on Oct. 22, 2011.POOL BPago Youth B has been the surprise of the group with the team consisting mostly of high school students competing against much older opponents. The association is keeping an eye on this group as the future for its youth national squads.They are currently in fourth place, ahead of perennial powerhouses Black Roses, PanSa and Tafuna Jets.They held Utulei Youth and Lion Heart A, the 2nd & 3rd ranked teams in the group, respectively, to draws with a 1-1 stalemate against the former on Oct. 10 and a 0-0 tie against the latter on Oct. 8.In other games on Oct. 8 it was Utulei Youth 5, PanSa 3; Vailoatai Youth 6, Tafuna Jets 2; Atu’u Broncos A 2, Green Bay 1 while Black Roses had a bye.In other matches on Oct. 10 it was group leader Vailoatai Youth 3, PanSa 1; Tafuna Jets 0, Black Roses 0; Lion Heart A 3, Atu’u Broncos A 1 while Green Bay sat out with a bye.Vailoatai Youth has 12 points for the No. 1 position, followed by Utulei Youth (7), Lion Heart A (7), Pago B (5), Black Roses (4), Atu’u Broncos A (4), PanSa (3), Tafuna Jets (2) and Green Bay (0).Standings positions for teams tied in the points’ category are determined by their number of goals differential.

About FFAS

A territory with just 70,000 people and an area of 199km², American Samoa is traditionally strong in sports such as gridiron, basketball and baseball but football is starting to take over these popular pastimes. The strength of the game is at the youth level where Football Federation American Samoa (FFAS) has worked hard to establish competitions within schools. Under the tutelage of President Iuli Alex Godinet.